Thursday, January 31, 2008

A brief thought on Lost

This post is spoiler-protected, for those who haven't quite caught up. To read the parts with spoilers, just highlight the blank space in the middle of the post.

While it remains amazing to me how one network TV show can cover so many themes while also remaining a kickass piece of serial, televised entertainment, I am not here to write the ur-post on Lost. It's not time.

I just finished watching Season 3 in about a week's time. I need to do laundry, I need to make food for myself. I need to sleep more. But it was totally and utterly worth it. I would watch several episodes before bedtime, then just lie in bed, thrumming and trying not to untangle the plot threads so my mind could rest. I dreamed about Lost, and not for the first time. I've followed all these characters and come to know them well and find myself throwing out five or six at a time when the inevitable "Who is your favorite" discussions come up. For the record: Jack, Sayid, Hurley, Kate, and Locke. In no particular order.

But one moment, one scene stands out for me above the rest. I can't stop thinking about when Jack has his flash-forward in the Season 3 finale "Through the Looking Glass" and is clearly a mess. The flash-forward has a couple of scenes, but one is clearly the best. There's a shot of his apartment, food and alcohol bottles carelessly in the sink, a sheaf of papers on the floor, atlases open, maps of the Pacific all around, and Jack's just in the middle of it. He calls someone, clearly a friend, and you know it's Kate, but you don't know if she'll show. She arrives to meet him, under the flight path at LAX, and she's just ... luminous. And Jack explains to her, how he's been flying every week, crossing the Pacific and hoping to crash on the island again. He's out and he can't get ever back in the womb. He's more lost than ever. It's heartbreaking.

It's perfect.

I can't get that scene out of my head right now, and I don't want to either. This show is rewarding beyond any of the reasonable expectations I had when I got into it on the recommendation of a couple friends this summer. One of them was Crimenotes, who loaned me his DVDs of Season 1 and Season 2. The lovely and vivacious Megan loaned me Season 3. I've got to go out and get them for myself, however, as something tells me they're going to want them back after watching tonight's premiere.

9 comments:

JHC said...

As I said before I loved the show then it lost me. To catch up, I watched half of Season 2 and all of Season 3 in a week and it completely blew me away. I still find it to be very inconsistent from week to week, but even at its worst, it's better than anything else on network tv.

The Season 3 finale has been fucking haunting me for days.

Anonymous said...

I'm actually happy that it took me so long to catch up, because while watching each season a year later (as soon as the DVDs are released, which is, until this year, too late for me to catch up and then get into the current season) has its drawbacks, the idea of having seen "Through the Looking Glass" 8 months ago and having to wait all the way until tonight to find out what's next sounds horrible to me. It's torturing me and I only saw it 5 days ago!

(Of course, there are bad sides to the way I did it too. After finishing the Season 1 DVDs in late January of Season 2 -- too late to catch up -- I had to wait all the way until the following November to learn what was in the hatch, which was extra torturous because I knew that all I had to do was turn on ABC on any Wednesday night I wanted and I would find out...)

dmbmeg said...

I'm really excited for the season premiere where the dinosaurs eat Newman.

DrunkBrunch said...

I don't watch much TV and I'm beyond excited. I really hope Season 4 picks up the momentum in the way that the first seasons did.

Anonymous said...

I'm now in full HOOT mode. It's like waiting for kickoff.

Anonymous said...

(Spoiler alert)

I'm looking forward to the continuity fun...like when Claire somehow got bangs from one day to the next between the last two seasons!

Posit: Given how much beard Jack has now, after 90 days on the island (yes, I know he has Dharma Initative razors and Dharma Initiative shaving foam but stil), we have to assume that the events of "Through the Looking Glass" take place at least 20 years later, in order for him to have that long of a beard!

dmbmeg said...

I think with how complicated and intricate the story telling is, they are allowed to take a few liberties on hair growth.

Except for Walt's growth spurt. That shit's just funny.

JHC said...

mystery man: GET OUT OF THE MASS GRAVE, JOHN!

Locke: ...Charles Oakley?

mystery man: IT'S ME, WALT!

Locke: But Walt is a little boy...

WALTER: QUIT BUSTIN MY BALLS AND GET OUTTA THE MASS GRAVE, JOHN!

Locke: ...

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